‘… My journey to the top is finally beginning! This is just the first step to stardom!’

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4 Weeks Later

‘Or so it should have been…’

Forrest turned a corner in a large alley while knocking over a pair of trashcans. He scurried back to his feet as sweat poured down his face. Frantically looking forward, he saw a man in a blue jean vest with a large bleached Mohawk haircut. He stood with on hand in a pocket, with his large arms bulging out of his ripped sleeves. His hand gripped a wooden baseball bat resting over his shoulder. He snickered as he took his cigarette out of his mouth to speak.

“Oh, if it isn’t Forrest. Looks like you’re in trouble again, hm? How ‘bout I, Mohawk Thug, beat the hell out of him for ya’, kiddie?”

His arrogant thoughts seeped through his voice. Forrest continued running and yelled out.

“Knock yourself out!”

Suddenly, a 5 meters tall behemoth made of garbage and muscles turned the corner. His striking appearance was second to the energy being given off by him. Mohawk Thug’s jaw dropped as he dropped his baseball bat. He turned and began running with Forrest in the same pathetic manner.

“Wh… What the hell is that thing?!”

The two raced through the alley side by side.

“How am I supposed to know?! I’m just trying to meet my quota and this guy showed up!”

Forrest grinded his teeth as he thought back on his past month as a hero.

“This is ridiculous… Everything is way too dangerous! They didn’t tell us that C Rank Heroes mortality rate was this high!”

Mohawk Thug snickered in his typical arrogant manner.

“You fool. Of course C Rank is dangerous! Us C Rankers are the most numerous in number, and we have to report to any local scuffle with monsters in order to meet our quotas! A rookie like you couldn’t possibly understand the-!”

-BOOM-

The ground in front of Mohawk Thug exploded. The monster was throwing pieces of asphalt at the pair while chasing.

“AHH!”

Mohawk Thug weaved around the explosion as he frantically ran forward alongside Forrest. Forrest continued yelling as they took another turn.

“You don’t seem to be any better at this than me, so enough with the experienced veteran act! An A rank hero should be hero to handle this guy soon, so we just have to distract it until then!”

“Hm! As if Mohawk Thug would run like a kitten with his tail between his legs!”

Mohawk Thug turned around and planted his feet. His face quickly twisted into a taunting and angry expression.

“Oy, monster. You have any idea what we do to guys like you ‘round here?”

Forrest stopped and turned to see what was happening. The monster, too, had stopped in his tracks at the imposing words.

“We smash your teeth in!”

A menacing aura shrouded Mohawk Thug as he fiercely swung his bat. Forrest’s was surprised at the amount of power that was packed into the swing.

“Take this!”

The bat smashed against the side of the monster. A resounding thud echoed through the alleyway.

“Eh?”

The monster looked down at him.

“Eh?”

Forrest couldn’t help but mutter.

“Eh?”

Mohawk Thug stared at the monster as his body broke into a cold sweat. He turned and rejoined Forrest in fleeing for their lives.

“I regret having any kind of expectation from you! Idiot!”

Forrest scolded the already broken Mohawk Thug. The two continued running as the monster resumed the chase.

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Town G Market Square. The many stands selling exotic foods and clothes from all over the world collected to form one of the world’s largest commerce exchanges. The large amount of people had happy and calm expressions as they enjoyed their shopping. Both children and adults laughed as they enjoyed the serene atmosphere. Suddenly…

“Run! There’s a monster!”

The voice echoed through the crowd as everyone fell silent. In the distance, they could see a large form crashing through the kiosks.

“What the hell?! Someone call the heroes!”

“Look!”

A man pointed at the front of the monster running toward them. Four figures, all dressed in hero apparel, were running for their lives. This, of course, included Forrest. Once the crowd realized the mortal situation, they erupted into screams as they fled.

“Where did you guys find this guy?!”

The speaker was one of the four heroes fleeing from the monster. His poorly woven attire seemed to be a hand knit costume.

“Don’t ask me! Ask Forrest!” Mohawk Thug blurted.

“Why am I not surprised?” The man exhaled.

“Shut up, Mama’s boy!” Forrest yelled in frustration.

“Take that back! Just because my mom made my outfit doesn’t mean I’m a mama’s boy!”

“Quiet!” The fourth figure spoke. He wore an all green skinsuit with a red belt. His classes reflected his collected attitude. His name: Four Eyes.

“We need to be thinking about how to take this thing down, not bickering among ourselves.”

The four thought in silence as they continued to run. Their faces dropped at precisely the same moment.

“It’s useless!” Forrest exclaimed.

“For Class C’s like us…” Mohawk Thug dropped.

However, just as the group had thought themselves dead…

“Disgraceful!”

A voice from above chastised. The four looked up to see a cyborg hovering. The monster stopped as it sensed formidable power in front of it.

“To turn your back to monsters! Truly worthy of Class C trash!”

The four gripped their hands in frustration. Four Eyes whispered to the other three.

“Don’t talk back… This guy is Class A, rank 3! Jet Force! He’s famous!”

They knew that they could say nothing to justify the situation to someone like this. After all, in the Hero Association, many of the more popular heroes looked down upon those that were struggling at the bottom.

The monster took a step forward toward the cyborg. However, the man flew into the cyborg and unleashed a barrage of wind attacks from his robotic hands. The wind sliced directly through the monster, killing it in seconds.

“How can you guys struggle so much with a monster like this?”

The group sighed. Does this guy really thing its simple to defeat something like that for Class C?! It was at least rank A threat level! How could they deal with a monster at that level?

“Enough, Jet Force.”

The angelic voice came from behind the group. They turned to see a woman with blonde clothes and white clothing. Four Eyes blurted out in surprise.

“Sister Mary!”

Sister Mary was a key figure in the Hero Association. Even though she was only rank 8 in A class, she was wildly popular among the populace. In addition, new heroes looked up to her due to her gentle personality.

“I’m sure the heroes are working hard! As long as you guys keep working hard, you can be great heroes someday!”

The gentle words warmed the four’s hearts. They smiled like shy schoolgirls being praised by the attractive teacher.

“Don’t be so lenient toward them, Sister Mary. They need-”

Both Sister Mary and Jet Force’s phones rang at the same time. They glanced at it before quickly racing off to another monster far away. The four stared at the distant backs of the heroes they always admired.

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Three figures sat around in shorts and t-shirts. Another person in similar clothing was pouring drinks in the kitchen. They sat with tired expressions on the wooden floor in a small, and obviously cheap, apartment. These four, of course, were the group that fled from the monster earlier today.

“Seriously… why is this so hard?” The man that had previously been wearing the hand knit outfit spoke in an exhausted voice.

“You say that every day, Izumi.” Four Eyes replied as he laid down on the floor. He stared at the ceiling in thought.

“You’re right, Four Eyes. Stop complaining so much, Mama’s Boy!”

“Guh-! Stop with that already-!” Izumi replied with blistering energy despite his fatigue.

“Let’s calm down.” Forrest’s voice came from the kitchen as he walked over with drinks for the group. They all took a glass and began to drink.

“Water again? I wanted whiskey!” Mohawk Thug shot at Forrest.

“Be thankful with water, jerk! Why is it always my place you guys come to?!”

“I still live with my mom and the house is small.” Said Izumi.

“My place is too trashed to have company.” Mohawk Thug replied.

“My landlord doesn’t like it when I bring people over.” Four Eyes exhaled.

“You’re all really sad, aren’t you?” Forrest sighed.

“Well, either way, we need to fix this. Without meeting our quotas, we don’t get paid enough!” Forrest said.

“He’s right.” Four eyes replied in a disheartened fashion. “We can’t beat the speed-oriented heroes to the weaker monsters, and we aren’t strong enough to take down stronger monsters. Additionally, if we don’t start showing results soon, we might end up fired. This is a tight spot we’re in.”

The four stared at the ground silently. They were all painfully aware of the amount of C rank heroes that either are fired or perish in the line of duty. Apparently, most of the deaths are categorized as “Classified Information” and kept from the public in order to not cause a panic. The small TV in the corner broke the silence with a news alert.

“We are standing outside of the Hero Association Branch in City J in which the Villain Organization has just destroyed. Eye witness reports say a single woman covered in flames slew or captured every hero and executive inside. Casualties include B Rank Accord and four C rank heroes known as-”

The television turned dark. Or, more precisely, the whole room did.

“Did you forget to pay the electricity bill?” Izumi asked in a hopeless voice.

“I didn’t forget. I just couldn’t afford it.”

The group sighed. The only light that entered the room was caused by the moonlight from the windows. The dark room was a pretty accurate representation of their career as heroes.

“Damn it!”

Forrest kicked his table over with all of their drinks crashing onto the floor. Four Eyes, with a panicked face, quickly began to wipe the water off of the floor. He spoke in a worried tone.

“Forrest! This will seep through the boards and cause mold-”

“I don’t care!” Forrest yelled back.

“What are we even doing? Sitting around in a room, not even being able to afford basic living needs? This isn’t what being a hero is supposed to be like!” His voice thundered through the room. The three stared with blank expressions while listening to the speech.

“At the end of the day, we are heroes! We passed the exam, meaning that we are strong enough to do this! If we give one hundred percent effort starting tomorrow, we can still be great heroes! It’s not over yet!”

The spiritless heroes had been rejuvenated. They all stood up and rallied amongst themselves.

“Yeah! We can do it!”

“It’s not over yet!”

“My name will go down in history!”

-Bang- -Bang-

Something was hitting against the wall of the apartment. A shrill and old voice leaked through.

“Shut up over there! I’m trying to get some sleep!”

The four stared at the wall for a moment. They sighed and sat back down. Their previous spirit had already calmed. They sat in silent thought for a few more seconds before a knocking at the door roused them. Forrest rose from the floor and began to walk over to the door.